IT was a moment that crystallised the misfortune that has befallen Pat Cummins, the heartbreak kid of Australian cricket.

On Friday, Australia's fast-bowling wonderboy should have been spearheading the charge as the Aussies put the Proteas on the ropes in Perth.

Instead, he was on the other side of the country, hopelessly looking on as the new guard - names who had not long ago been well behind him in Australia's pace queue - stole the bowling spotlight.

Rather than warming up in the west, Cummins had spent Thursday at Sydney's University of Technology, just another face among hundreds of tertiary students gathering for an accounting exam as part of his studies for a Bachelor of Business degree.

For the 19-year-old, the lessons, in a sporting context, could not be more emphatic.

Wiped out for the second consecutive summer, this time due to stress fractures in his back, Cummins admits this is not the gold-paved journey he envisaged after his dream Test debut in South Africa just 12 months ago.

This week, Cummins will meet with Cricket Australia medicos and biomechanists for an analysis of his technique to thrash out ways to minimise further injury, including likely changes to his bowling action.

"I have to work out what needs to be done, whether it's changing my action," said Cummins, who injured his back during a Sydney Sixers Champions League T20 game in South Africa in October.

"If we do change something, and we probably will, it will only be a minor alteration.

"I think I need to make one or two small tweaks, we don't need to reinvent the wheel but there's definitely a few things I can tidy up.

"The core of it is trying to keep my body straight and going in the one direction. I'm probably bowling across my body a bit so I probably need to get things in a straight line."

Last November, Cummins, at 18, hit world cricket like a tsunami when he won man-of-the-match honours in his Test debut, claiming 7-117 and hitting the boundary that clinched an epic two-wicket victory in Johannesburg.

He has not played Test cricket since. Incredibly, for all the hoopla, he has played just four first-class games.

Initially, there was a slight chance Cummins would return for NSW in February. The rookie quick has since aborted an ambitious comeback plan, but insists injury will not prematurely end his international career like it has many others, including former Test left-armer Bruce Reid.

"Every bowler, when they are young, seems to go through these things," says Cummins, who also missed Australia's 2011-12 home summer due to stress fractures in his foot.

"I'm no chance of being back this summer.

"It's a bit of a reality check, you can never take anything for granted because you never know, something like this (could be) just around the corner and suddenly your career can be taken away.

"Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson had issues with their back at 18 or 19 and now it's the same with me.

"I've bumped into guys like Brett Lee and they are sending me a similar message. Brett has been through the same thing I have, there's not many bowlers who don't go through some sort of injury.

"Because I got thrown in so young into the Test scene, I'm probably more in the spotlight, but I'm not worried about people thinking I might be injury-prone and not being able to make it back."

While Cummins is not hitting the panic button, he admits he is missing life in the baggy green.

"I was pretty gutted at first," he said.

"The doctors gave me the diagnosis, but it was hearing the timeline that hurt ... that it would be three months before you bowl again.

"I started adding the days and realised this summer was pretty much a write-off. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss being out there playing for Australia - but fortunately I have time on my side."

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